The public will never see the results of the Government's "review" on the threat of foreign fighters - because officials were never asked to write a report.

[...]

A spokesman for Finlayson said yesterday that the review, by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet officials, "reported back early."

Asked when the review would be made public, he said officials reviewed current legislation and "agreed recommendations were then put into a Cabinet Paper. Officials were never asked to present a formal review document," he said.

...which means that they were never asked to provide evidence to justify their legislative conclusions of a crackdown on civil rights and freedom of movement. Never asked to show how big the problem is, why current legislation (which makes it a crime to join or finance a terrorist group and allows passports to be seized to prevent people from travelling to participate in terrorism) isn't enough, or what other options we could pursue. Instead, Key's spies came up with a wishlist, he called it a "review", and rubber-stamped it. And that's what "checks and balances" mean under National: lies for spies. When our civil liberties are on the line, we deserve better than this sort of shoddy PR snowjob.